In retrospect, Blake Harrell’s birthday was a turning point for East Carolina football. It’s like he made a wish for the Pirates to get the 2024 season turned around and then blew out all the candles

Harrell turned another year older on Oct. 20.

“I’ve not had a crazier birthday,” said ECU’s interim coach and defensive coordinator. ” … I got the phone call on the way into work that morning just to swing up by the administration office and we had the conversation up there.

“I really didn’t even have the time to think about it being my birthday. Sometimes, when you get older, you’re not counting those days anyway. But it’s been a blessing. I’m just very fortunate to be a part of these young men ‘s lives, be a part of our locker room, be a part of this program and be able to represent Pirate Nation the way we do.”

The Pirates are 3-0 since Harrell took the helm as he turned 45.

“We are bowl eligible,” he said Monday afternoon.  “But that’s certainly not our end goal. We want to go get one more this week for these seniors and for this program and for these fans. And after we get seven, we’ll see about if we can’t get eight after that. But right now, the focus is on seven.”

Counting the years

Most of his birthdays haven’t been as dramatic as the most recent one.

“When you have as many as I’ve had, you can forget about them,” he said. “I think obviously the most memorable birthday is when you turn 16 and you finally get your driver’s license. It is crazy to me kids when they turn 16 now, that’s not the first thing they do.

“When I was a kid and you turned 16, the first thing you did was you went to the DMV that morning, got your driver’s license so you could drive to school that day. And that was probably one of the most memorable at the time. … As a kid when you’re 7, 8, 9, they’re all exciting.”

Harrell had a birthday in his family the day after Pirates won, 38-31, at Tulsa on Thursday night.

“My daughter just had her seventh birthday, my youngest daughter Aspen … this past Friday,” Harrell said. “So we got back at 4 a.m. from Tulsa and I made sure I was up taking her to school and celebrating her birthday because when they’re that age, every birthday’s big.”

Back to the future

After consecutive Thursday night wins, ECU (6-4, 4-2 AAC) is back to playing on Saturday with a trip to North Texas this week for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

The Mean Green is 5-5 overall and 2-4 in league play.

“Friday was really a wash for us since we got back super late.” Harrell said. “That was the day just to kind of reset. Saturday, we gave the guys the day off and just let them recover, that type of thing. Training room was open, all that stuff was open.

“Sunday really started back to a normal week and it’s the first normal week we’ve had in a while. … It’s kind of nice to be back on a normal week and starting your preparations on Sunday and playing on Saturday. So, we’ll be back to business as normal this week.”

Common opponent

North Texas had its losing streak extended to four games with a 48-27 loss at Texas-San Antonio on Friday night. ECU defeated the Roadrunners, 30-20, in Greenville on Sept. 28.

Harrell watched UTSA and North Texas.

“I thought UTSA caught some breaks,” he said. “They played really, really well and they caught those breaks early on with a surprise onside kick and doing some different things there. (UTSA) was able to control the football early on and keep the ball away from North Texas so to speak.

“They took the lead at halftime, 27-7, and then in the second half you saw North Texas come roaring back. UTSA was able to hold on at the end for the win.

“It was really two good football teams going at it, North Texas is certainly explosive and Chandler Morris (North Texas quarterback) deserves all the credit he gets. He’s second in the country, I think, in touchdown passes and is a really special player.”

Keys this week

The Pirates are looking for their fourth straight win. Harrell discussed what it would take.

“Offensively, it’s continuing to move the sticks,” he said, “Running the football is going to help us open some things up in the pass game. Just keep those sticks moving and keeping the ball away from Chandler Morris a little bit, but still taking shots down the field and putting the ball in the box. That’ll be huge

“Defensively, we’ve got to keep the ball in front of us. We can’t let it get behind us and make sure we get some third down stops. And then winning the turnover battle, taking care of the football on offense and the defense, create some turnovers — create some extra possessions for our offense.

“In the special teams game, do the same. We’ve got to set our offense up for good field position. Defensively, special teams-wise, we’ve got to be able to pin them deep. And then if we see an opportunity there to gain extra possession in the special teams game, we need to do that as well.”

Winners dinners

Previous coach Mike Houston began a tradition of Sunday team meals after a win.

“We’ve changed that up a little bit,” Harrell said. “It used to be just as you came in, you went right to eat and leave as soon as you got done eating. But we’ve made it more of a sit down style. We’re going to eat as position groups together and make sure we all fellowship as well. It’s been good. Last night we had steak and crab legs.”

Staying in touch with Houston

Harrell had coached with Houston before coming to ECU in 2020. They have maintained some communication.

“We spoke early on,” Harrell said. “It was really, ‘Hey, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and care about you as a friend and all those types of things.’

“He’s reached out a couple of times through texts to say congratulations and good luck, those type of things. But we’re always thinking about him. A lot of us in this building owe a lot to Coach Houston.

“At the same time, we’ve got North Texas to worry about and other opponents to worry about. We’ve had to move on and make sure we’re taking care of business for our players in our locker room and Pirate Nation as well.”